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April 8, 2008

G8: Red Sox 5, Tigers 0

Today was a beautiful day: a World Series ring ceremony, nine innings of sun-soaked afternoon baseball, and an easy shutout victory.

Matsuzaka (6.2-4-0-4-7, 109) was both economical and aggressive. He allowed only two baserunners through the first four innings. Detroit tried to rally in the fifth and sixth, but Dice stranded a total of five Tigers in those two innings to preserve the shutout. Odd note: Matsuzaka's four walks were awarded on only 17 pitches (three four-pitch passes and one with a foul ball thrown in).

Everyone in the starting lineup reached base at least twice except for Crisp (single, RBI, and made a couple of tough catches in CF) and Ramirez (on a triple into the triangle, he scored when the relay throw was wild).

Lugo, Pedroia, Varitek each singled twice; Lowell and Ortiz both walked twice; Drew singled and walked; and Youkilis singled twice, doubled, walked and drove in two runs. Lugo also scored two runs.

Delcarmen relieved Dice in the seventh and pitched 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. Okajima pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts, although he needed 20 pitches.

Rogers (4.2-8-3-3-3, 107) had a tough time from the very beginning. Almost half of the batters he faced (11 of 25) reached base.

The Royals beat the visiting Yankees 5-2 (like Boston, KC had five runs and 12 hits). The Orioles won again and are threatening to run away with the AL East.

There are several annual holidays that each Red Sox fan observes: Truck Day, the morning when pitchers & catchers report to spring training, Opening Day ... and the first game of a new season at Fenway Park.

This is Fenway's 97th Opening Day. And here we are ... watching another group of Red Sox players receive World Series rings (only 1,093 days since the last ceremony!). The park opens at 11:35 AM and pregame ceremonies will begin at 1:15 PM.

Tito, on coming home: "Half of us will probably have clean underwear for the first time, so that will be good. How do you beat getting a ring and clean underwear?"

The three-country road trip may be in the players' collective rear-view mirror, but the schedule isn't getting much easier. Beginning with today's game, the Red Sox are scheduled to play 36 games in 37 days. Between now and May 14, there is only one off-day.

It is stunning to me that some writers and fans are actually upset about a 3-4 start. How many times during a season will a team go 3-4? It's ridiculous. With the Japan trip and two parks that traditionally give the Sox fits, I expected worse. The only really bad starting pitching performance was Lester's first. The defense was shaky; the offense is in the same April-on-the-road low gear that I've seen almost every season since before I was shaving. Lugo had a bad game and Manny D had two. That's nuthin'.

Tom Werner and John Henry are on NESN's pre-game show. John has a "prototype ring" on his finger, and they were talking about what went into designing the rings, etc. Tom talked about how they consulted some of the players, like Ortiz, and Tom said, "You know how he likes his bling. So there's going to be a ring of diamonds right here..."

John Henry then said, "Yeah, see, this ring right here is the pre-bling ring."

It's kind of like a little old lady dropping an F bomb. You wouldn't hear John Henry saying "bling" everyday.

Thanks Patrick. I want to stay out of the thread more b/c I find myself not watching the game as closely as I'd like to. Too much reading and commenting - which I enjoy - but too little serious game watching.

ump said rogers did not come to a stop -- balk -- looked like his normal motion. so drew who had singled to right-center, went to second. tek lined a single up the middle, almost caught by rogers, so drew had to wait, then went to third. crisp hit a sac fly to right-center to bring in the run.

Ha! "Watcher of the Skies" is what Peter is singing in my avatar, Amy!

Laura, many fans of "old Genesis" have a syndrome in which they begin to hate Phil Collins. I have come through that. Phil is a great, great drummer, still sings pretty well. I now love Phil. I don't go anywhere near his solo material, but I love him.

I love Phil Collins. There, I said it. Three times.

Not as much as I love Matsuzaka Daisuke at this moment for getting out of that inning. I also love him from a fantasy point of view. Uh, strikeouts and scoreless innings and so forth, y'know...

Collins's solo stuff is absolute shit. Pure dreck. And somehow he got a reputation in the 80s as a socially conscious songwriter, singing about caring for the down-trodden. And he acted all self-important, like putting shots of poor people in your video = actually doing something. SHIT.

odd pitching change. tito out, crowd cheering, mdc running in from pen, dice staying on mound, not talking to anyone, mdc arrives, dice hands him the ball, then dice leaves, tito following but off to the side, letting dice go off alone and first ...

Western New England College in Springfield, MA. I teach at the law school there; my husband is in the legal studies and sport management department at the business school. The agent (Jim something---I forget) seems like a nice guy the one time I briefly met him.

My avatar: I am indebted to our dear friend Redsock for locating that last season.

Nice. If you were referring to mine, I stole it from Jere (aka Gedman) - I recall it from last year's game threads and he mentioned it a couple times during the one YouCastr broadcast we all listened to...

The afternoon was sun-soaked if you were on the field or in the bleachers. If you were in the grandstand or anywhere left of home plate, it was like winter. It was amazing to go down the steps to get food or whatever, pass through the sunny area, and see how nice it was in the sun.

Tim: thanks for the nod on the MDC thing.

L: Buckner had not been back in a long time. But he did get cheered the following season, and was still playing with the Sox as late as '90, after leaving and coming back. And you're right, the flags weren't paraded, but they were brought out and brought back, effectively making it a parade. It's like that NYC protest in '03 where the pigs said "you can gather but you can't march." It's like, well, just so ya know, we will be walking to and from the location! Should we *happen* to hold signs and chant during those times, don't worry, we're just getting to where we're going...ha.

Nick, Great Barrington is a great little town. We stayed there years ago at an inn right near Butternut Ski area. Turning Point Inn, maybe?It was about 20 years ago, so probably isn't even the same name!